William s



W. Sr OWEN. Pluting-Iron.

No. 226,776. Patented April 20,1880.

N PETERS, PHOTO-UTHOQRAPHER, WASNIINGTCN. D. G

NITED STATES PATENT Finch.

WILLIAM S. OWEN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNOR OFONE-HALF OF HIS RIGHT TO ACHSAH COX AND ANNIE E. KENT,

OF SAME PLACE.

FLUTlNG-IRON.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 226,776, dated April20, 1880.

Application filed August 26, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM S. OWEN, of Washington city, in the Districtof Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCombined Smoothing and Fluting Irons; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains toinake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this specification.

My improved sad-iron is of the kind in which I 5 a fluting andsmoothingiron section are hinged together for either fiuting orsmoothing, and in which a detachable wooden handle is employed.

My improvements are designed to render the combined smoothing andfiuting iron more complete, and in which the smoothing iron proper isunited to the top fluting part by a plate-hinge, and for this purposethe base part has a raised point-seat for one leaf of the 2 5 hinge, andalso forms a cross-shoulder, against which the fluting top part abutswhen closed, to serve as a bracing support for said leafhinge and as ameans of bringing the fluted part-s always in matching positions, andthe 0 confining screw for these parts always in proper relation to thescrew-hole in the base, so that there can be no lateral play of thefluting part, as with the ordinary point-hinge, and thus avoid muchinconvenience in using 3 5 the iron in fluting.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents my improved combinedsmoothing and fluting iron as used for fluting; Fig. 2, a verticalsection of the same; Fig. 3, the detachaao ble handle as used with asmoothing iron only, and Fig. 4 the handle and its socketed plateseparated.

The smoothing-iron proper, a, has the usual fluting top surface b, butis made with a flat 4 5 raised point, 0, which forms a shoulder, 61,crossing the iron back of the point. The top part, c, has the usualfluting-surfacef on its under side, and is hinged to the base at thecross-shoulder by a plate-hinge, g, one leaf of which is screwed to theraised part c, and the other to the fluting part in the same plane, soas to bring the front end of the fluted part, when closed, snug againstthe cross-shoulder, thereby forming a brace to the hinge and insuringthe matching of the fluting parts by preventing all lateral play of thetop part in opening and closing it, and relieving all strain upon thehinge when ironing.

When used as a smoothing -iron the base and top are secured by athumb-screw, h, passing through the top near the hinge at one side ofthe handle, and into a screw-hole, h, in the base, and thecross-shoulder serves also to bring this screw always at the point tocause it to enter the screw-socket, thus avoiding an inconvenienceincident to a loose point or pin hinge.

The fiuting' part is made with a dovetail recess, i, on its uppersurface, to receive a correspondingly-formed handle-plate, j, to which awooden handle, 70, is secured, thereby adapting the combined device foruse with a detachable handle. The handle being of wood, it is importantthat its connection with its dovetail plate should be durable and firm,and to effect this the handle-plate is made with socket-projections l ateach end, and the wooden handle is formed with tenon ends m m, adaptedto be firmly driven into said sockets and secured by screws n a, passingthrough said sockets into the tenons. These sockets serve to brace thehandle, and to relieve the securing-screws of the strain and wear.

The handle is of suitable wood, and is formed by steaming and bending,or otherwise. The handle-plate is provided with a retaining device,consisting of a spring-plate, p, screwed at one end to said plate, andhaving a latchpoint, g, at its free end, which, projecting through anopening in said plate, is adapted to take into and latch with a recess,7', in the surface of the recessed top part, to secure the handle inplace when using the iron and allow it to be detached when heating theiron.

The spring-catch plate will become heated in using the iron, and as thecatch is raised by the fingers to remove and replace the handle, Iprovide it with a wooden trigger, s, secured to the free end of thespring, so that it can be taken hold of at all times without risk ofburning the fingers or requiring the use of a cloth to unlatch it.

By this construction the handle and its retaining device are bothisolated from their dovetail attachable plate, so that they will becomparatively cool, yet forming the handling connected parts.

As shown in Fig. 3, the handle and its retaining device may be used witha smoothingiron only, and the dovetail recess in the latter maybeforined by a raised rib.

The pin-jointed hinge shown gives a bearing for the top part equal tothe width of the iron at that point, and the cross-shoulder forms asolid joining with the top part, so that there Witnesses:

A. E. H. JOHNSON, J. W. HAMILTON JOHNSON.

